1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to improved diagnostics for aircraft. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for collating and analysing aircraft specific data so as to improve fault troubleshooting and maintenance diagnostics in aircraft.
2. Description of the Related Art
Developments in aviation have lead to increasingly complex systems being installed in aircraft for the diagnosis, monitoring and management of various on-board systems. In order to help manage this increased complexity, various aircraft systems now incorporate or are able to provide electronically stored copies of various maintenance manuals and procedures for the specific aircraft or aircraft type [1-7]. Such manuals may be stored in an on-board maintenance system, for example. Often these are equivalent to paper manuals created before the aircraft first flies, or shortly after an initial test-flight, and subsequently approved by a state-run certifying authority (such as, for example, the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) in the US or Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in the UK).
Various predetermined troubleshooting procedures and repair techniques based upon an analysis of expected faults and their propagation may also be included in such maintenance manuals. These may be provided by design engineers based upon their previous experience or using simulated data. However, such “hard-coded” predetermined procedures are often sub-optimal and can thus lead to maintenance personnel inefficiently troubleshooting, for example, by removing and replacing incorrect components or line replaceable units (LRU's) such that one or more “No Fault Found” (NFF) conditions are obtained before the problem is eventually rectified. Other potential consequences include an increased out of service time, delays, possible flight cancellations, etc.
Additionally, engineers may only have an incomplete knowledge of various maintenance issues, especially regarding the emergent properties of a system, such as failure cases for example, which may be so complex that their properties cannot be accurately modelled or predicted in the development phase.
In light of this it is known that various maintenance engineers keep unofficial records of troubleshooting procedures that, in their experience, are believed to work better or more quickly than the recommended official versions. Given the unofficial nature of such procedures, however, such hands-on experience is generally neither peer reviewed or widely disseminated, to the overall detriment of the aviation community at large.
Accordingly, it would be highly desirable to provide faster and more accurate maintenance techniques for aircraft thereby reducing both the direct costs associated with troubleshooting faults and secondary costs caused by time delays due to missed flights, delayed flights, NFFs, etc. This would also provide the benefit that fewer modifications would need to be made to an aircraft undergoing maintenance thereby reducing the chance that an otherwise reliable component is made unreliable by being removed and handled.